After lounging for three days at anchor, our journey continued for 48 miles to Almerimar.
Every blogger arriving at the Mediterranean or heading towards the Atlantic seems to stop in Almerimar. Since we had a work week ahead of us, we decided that remote work would be more pleasant to do in the marina, allowing us to stretch our legs in the evenings after the workday.
We did not have high expectations of Almerimar, as we thought it was just a small village in the middle of cucumber fields. While it is indeed that, Almerimar turned out to be a much more charming and vibrant holiday resort. Around the marina’s four harbour basins, hotels, holiday apartments, and numerous restaurants have been built, providing a good shelter for the boats that stay in the water during stormy winter weather.
Almerimar is by far the most affordable harbour on the Mediterranean for wintering a boat, either in the water or on land. We had not even checked into the harbour when they proactively offered us a winter storage deal in the marina office. They have 1,100 berths, accommodating both catamarans and boats up to 60 meters long, with additional space for 150 boats on land. The marina had boats from many different countries waiting for their owners to return. We even found a familiar Finnish boat there, secured with a lonely padlock.
Many were actively doing maintenance, and the adjacent boatyard was bustling with activity. It seemed that all necessary maintenance services were available here. With reasonable prices, it is no wonder the harbour basins and land storage areas had many sailors doing some work on their boats. For example, winter storage for Suwena in Alicante, 165 nautical miles north, would have cost three times more — wow!
All the berths are next to the street, allowing people heading to apartments and restaurants to walk by the boats. If you leave your boat here, you must secure everything carefully and stow loose items on deck to ensure they remain safe upon your return. A friend who stored their boat here over the winter told us that a liferaft had disappeared from their neighboring boat during the winter.
When Andrus was looking for a wintering marina for Suwena, he was not enthusiastic about Almerimar, even though we knew it was more affordable. It’s always important to us that the harbour is easily accessible. Almeria Airport is only 60 kilometers away, but there are fewer flights from there, and the connections didn’t look good for us. That’s why we had booked a berth for the next winter in Valencia. We plan to take the boat out a few times during the winter to recharge the boat’s batteries and ours as well. After all, Valencia is Spain’s the third-largest city, and there will surely be plenty to see and do.
Almerimar really turned out to be a more lively place than we expected. It can be said that it’s a tourist town that has formed around the marina, and the almost endless row of restaurants naturally offers Andalusian culinary delights. With a week’s stop, we found many excellent restaurants, and Suwena’s galley got a week off from its faithful service.
Almerimar also has lovely long sandy beaches that attracted a lot of people to spend time sunbathing. However, our days were spent working, so in the evenings we eagerly set out to explore Almerimar and stretch our legs. We also found a very good supermarket Mercadona, where we stocked up Suwena for the upcoming sea days. Similarly, every day there were anchored boats in front of the sandy beach, from which you could zoom ashore in a dinghy to enjoy the beach life or a delicious dinner.
We left with a really good feeling about Almerimar, and if we ever need to return to this area, it would be a great spot for winter storage or larger repairs. All our friends who have stored their boats here over the winter have also been happy with their choice.
